Interview with Lisa Marie Grillos, Presentation Rockstar
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Lisa Marie was wandering aimlessly through the world of corporate design, slogging through the muck of web banners, emails, and product catalogs, when the bluebird of happiness alighted upon her windowsill and revealed the pot of gold that is presentation design. She never looked back.
Since then Lisa Marie has designed for companies like Salesforce, Workday, Facebook, Zynga, and eBay. Nothing makes her smile like a well-formed story arc brought to life through animation and stellar graphics.
Lisa Marie is also speaking at our upcoming online event, The Design + PowerPoint Summit, which takes place February 16-17, 2023. We thought it would be fun to get to know her better with some Q&A.
Q: What is the biggest mistake designers often make when using PowerPoint?
Ignoring accessibility issues. The color combinations you’ve chosen may look good to you but considering visibility for everyone, including those who are color blind, should be high on our list of priorities. It is easy enough to check the WCAG compliance of colors with a tool like WebAIM or The Accessible Color Palette Generator at Venngage.com.
Q: What’s your feature in PowerPoint that you wouldn’t want to live without?
Morph! I don’t think I’m alone in my love of morph (and the “bang bang” trick), and it’s the main thing I miss when I’m in Google Slides.
Q: Give us your best suggestion or tip for anyone new to powerpoint and/or presentation design.
If you’re new to PowerPoint I urge you to download the BrightSlide plug-in, it’s a game changer. If you’re new to presentation design I advise that you think about not just individual slides but the deck as a whole so you’re telling a complete story from beginning to end.
Q: What’s the most unexpected use for PowerPoint that you’ve seen (or done)?
This wasn’t by a professional but I was impressed when my teenage niece started making PowerPoint presentations to convince her mom to let her see certain movies or go to a party. Pitch early, pitch often!
Q: What are you most excited to share in your upcoming session?
How to keep your sanity when you’re asked to work in Google Slides, including some work-arounds and tips and tricks. I resisted Google Slides for so long but have learned how to make the best of it, and you can too!
More Resources To Master Presentation Design
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